Spotlight squarely on the state's other major industry at 2012 Inno-Vention

ROCHESTER, MI - One of the more poignant parts of the Inno-Vention conference came at the end of Thursday as medical device innovators were lined up and "thrown to the sharks," as organizers put it.

That is, they had three investors, Jay Katarincic of Draper Triangle Ventures, Michael Gross of Beringea and Brian Polowniak of Stage2 Innovations, tell the innovators why their ideas would or (in most cases) would not get any venture capital.

After hearing pitches on a spinal replacement disk, a spinal surgery aid and a breast cancer testing device, the trio of investors outlined problems with each. The funding forecast was too low. The idea was too convoluted. Doctors are unlikely to want to buy or lease what they're selling.

To a medical layman, the responses were as interesting as the pitches themselves.

"Our next step for next year will be let's refine this,
let's make it focused," Oakland County deputy executive Matthew Gibb told MLive after the event. He added that Medical Main Street may also do two conferences, one that is over-arching and one that focuses on a certain aspects of the health sciences industry, such as commercialization of products or venture capital.

Oakland County is not messing around in its aim for a prominent spot on the global map for health sciences hubs; the county has $220 million invested in it from new companies over the past three years through its Medical Main Street program. So far that effort has resulted in 26 life sciences companies coming to the area and more than 1,900 related jobs. Oakland County says it now has more than 100,000 health care workers, more than the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic combined.

"We want to drive market share," Gibb said.

At the conference, regional heavyweights in the health arena touted the area:

"Detroit has a long history of mold manufacturing," Jeff Kaczperski, president of Omega Plastics, told the convention. "There are very talented people in this area."

Stephen Rapundalo, president and CEO of MichBio, said Kaczperski is one of hundreds of local manufacturers that that Michigan has.